Last fall, a group of Queen’s students managed to offend nearly everyone with a “countries of the world” theme party. Many celebrities have also taken a turn in the penalty box, from Chrissy Tiegen’s “sexy Pocahontas” to Heidi Klum in blue-face as the Hindu goddess Kali.

Halloween has emerged as the leading holiday for cultural insensitivity. To their credit, many privilege-conscious parents are seizing the teachable moment of costume selection, helping kids understand the hurtful consequences of racial and religious stereotyping.

With the fuss over who can trick-or-treat as Princess Moana, however, the debate over cultural appropriation may have reached peak absurdity.

Blogger Sachi Feris struck a chord with her popular essay detailing costume negotiations with her five-year-old daughter, an aspiring Moana or Elsa. Feris describes her reservations about the beauty ideal of white, blonde Elsa; on the other hand, imitating Moana’s costume feels like mocking Polynesian culture.

One might counter imitation is the finest form of flattery, but Feris isn’t telling anyone what to think — she’s just sharing her own choices. However, the essay inspired an article from Redbook, which admonished: “White girls have plenty of princesses to choose from — there’s Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty.” What a dreadful place to draw the line.

Here’s the thing about Disney princesses: Little girls love them. A preference for shiny gowns and sparkly crowns is embedded in their DNA, along with ponies and glitter.

Mulan, Pocahontas, Brave’s Princess Merida, Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, and Moana present youngsters with a wider range of female heroines — racially diverse and courageous risk-takers. What message do we send by discouraging them from emulating these role models at Halloween?

It’s wonderful if an African American preschooler sees herself positively reflected in Tiana. But if she wants to dress up as Snow White, who is anyone to limit her imagination? Whom does it help to stop a Caucasian child with their heart set on dressing as gender-bending warrior Mulan, and whom does it hurt?

Neither one is mimicking the heritage of a marginalized group in a way that’s demeaning or hurtful (which is the essence of cultural appropriation). They’re mimicking a Disney character — a franchise explicitly marketed for imitation, with a lucrative side business in licensed costumes, colouring books and happy meal toys.

We do children a disservice by discouraging them from choosing the heroes and heroines who embody the qualities they most admire, and instead, choosing role models within the narrow confines of their own heritage and skin pigmentation.

Adults are held to a different standard. It’s well past time for the beaded bustiers of “Sassy Squaw” to hit the trash heap of Halloween history, where they can mingle in ignominy with the tattered rags of “Hobo” and straitjackets of “Escaped Mental Patient.” We know better.

Kids, on the other hand, are learning. They develop empathy through role play. We should let them.